Have you put together your summer reading list yet?
Even with several years of experience and training in reading and writing, I constantly feel the need to expand my repertoire of knowledge to help adolescents read, write, think, and speak better. Every year the needs of my students send me seeking more tools with which to intervene on their behalf. I start each summer with a pile of books on my desk to read, books that I did not have time to read during the school year. My professional learning focus is usually on my instructional queries from the previous school year, or on leadership or professional learning goals I’ve set for the coming year.
Below are a few titles I’ve read independently or in literacy courses that, in one way or another, altered my instruction or contributed to the development of intervention curriculum. I could explain my reasoning for each, but my blogs already tend to be too lengthy. The titles and the reputations of these authors provide plenty of justification for why each is on the list.
*Lifers: Learning from At-Risk Adolescent Readers
Pamela N, Mueller (c) 2001
A Guide to Co-Teaching: New Lessons & Strategies to Facilitate Student Learning
Richard A. Villa, Jacqueline S. Thousand, & Ann I. Nevin (c) 2013 Third Edition
*Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Retelling: Skills for Better Reading, Writing, and Test Taking Emily Kissner (c) 2006
Rigorous Reading: 5 Access Points for Comprehending Complex Texts
Nancy Frey & Douglas Fisher (c) 2013
Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Learning for All Learners Ron Ritchhart, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison (c) 2011
*Reciprocal Teaching at Work K-12: Powerful Strategies and Lessons for Improving Reading Comprehension Lori D. Oczkus (c) 2010 2nd Edition
Reflective Teaching, Reflective Learning: How to Develop Critically Engaged Readers, Writers and Speakers Edited by: Thomas M McCann, et al.
Recommended: “Reading Level Response: Helping Students Write About Literature” by Declan FitzPatrick
Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions
Dan Rothstein & Luz Santana (c) 2011
*What Really Matters for Struggling Readers: Designing Research-Based Programs Richard L Allington (c) 2012 Third Edition
*I Read It, But I Don’t Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers
Cris Tovani (c) 2000
ESL (ELL) Literacy Instruction: A Guidebook to Theory and Practice
Lee Gunderson, et al. (c) 2014 Third Edition
Qualitative Reading Inventory – 5
Lauren Leslie, Joanne Schudt Caldwell (c) 2011
*Intervention Strategies to Follow Informal Reading Inventory Assessment
JoAnne Schudt Caldwell & Lauren Leslie (c) 2013 Third Edition
Included on my professional reading list for this summer:
Visible Learning for Literacy: Implementing the Practices that Work Best to Accelerate Student Learning Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, & John Hattie (c) 2016
*Qualitative Reading Inventory – 6
Lauren Leslie, Joanne Schudt Caldwell (c) 2017
Meeting the Challenge of Adolescent Literacy: Practical Ideas for Literacy Leaders Judith L. Irvin, et al (c) 2009
The Motivated Brain: Improving Student Attention, Engagement, and Perseverance Gayle Gregory & Martha Kaufeldt (c) 2015
*How to Make Decisions with Different Kinds of Student Assessment Data
Susan M Brookhart (c) 2016
- These titles are especially recommended for beginning literacy intervention teachers or content teachers who want to expand their literacy knowledge.
No matter how diligently I attempt to keep up with the current thinking and research around literacy, I know there is so much more out there. These are just a few resources that have impacted me. I gain the best recommendations from conferences and other educators.
What books, journals, or websites have impacted your instruction? For which challenges in the literacy classroom are you looking for resource support?